Bill Text: CA AB774 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Health facilities: licensure.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-01 - Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB774 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB774-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 774 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 12, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Campos
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to amend Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 774, as amended, Campos. Health facilities: licensure.
Existing law provides for the licensure of health facilities by
the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires that the
licensure requirements for professional personnel, including
psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family
therapists, among others, in state and other governmental health
facilities, be not less than for those in privately owned health
facilities. The department may grant a waiver from licensure
requirements for persons in the professions of psychology,
marriage and family therapy, or clinical social work who are
employed in publicly operated health facilities who are gaining
qualifying experience for licensure. The waiver cannot exceed 3 years
from the commencement of employment in the state in the case of
psychologists or 4 years for marriage and family therapists or
clinical social workers, with one additional year to be granted to
marriage and family therapists or clinical social workers under
extenuating circumstances. Existing law requires the department to
grant the extension of a waiver for extenuating circumstances if
specified conditions are met.
Existing law provides for the licensure of psychiatric health
facilities by the State Department of Mental Health.
This bill would require any other department that employs
a marriage and family therapist or a clinical social worker,
including a marriage and family therapist or clinical social worker
recruited from outside this state, to grant the extension of a waiver
for extenuating circumstances if the above-described conditions are
met authorize the State Department of Mental Health to
grant the above-described waiver and an extension of the waiver for
persons employed in facilities licensed by the State
Department of Mental Health .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
1277. (a) No license shall be issued by the state
department unless it finds that the premises, the
management, the bylaws, rules and regulations, the equipment, the
staffing, both professional and nonprofessional, and the standards of
care and services are adequate and appropriate, and that the health
facility is operated in the manner required by this chapter and by
the rules and regulations adopted hereunder.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of Part 2 (commencing with
Section 5600) of Division 5 of, or Division 7 (commencing with
Section 7100) of, the Welfare and Institutions Code or any other law
to the contrary, except Sections 2072 and 2073 of the Business and
Professions Code, the licensure requirements for professional
personnel, including, but not limited to, physicians and surgeons,
dentists, podiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists,
pharmacists, registered nurses, and clinical social workers in the
state and other governmental health facilities licensed by the
state department or by the State Department
of Mental Health, as appropriate, shall not be less than for
those professional personnel in health facilities under private
ownership. Persons employed as psychologists and clinical social
workers, while continuing in their employment in the same class as of
January 1, 1979, in the same state or other governmental health
facility licensed by the state department or
by the State Department of Mental Health, as appropriate, ,
including those persons on authorized leave, but not including
intermittent personnel, shall be exempt from the requirements of this
subdivision. Additionally, the requirements of this subdivision may
be waived by the state department department
or by the State Department of Mental Health, as appropriate,
solely for persons in the professions of psychology, marriage and
family therapy , or clinical social work who are gaining
qualifying experience for licensure in such profession in this state.
A waiver granted pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed three
years from the date the employment commences in this state in the
case of psychologists, or four years from commencement of the
employment in this state in the case of marriage and family
therapists and clinical social workers, at which time licensure shall
have been obtained or the employment shall be terminated except that
an extension of a waiver of licensure for marriage and family
therapists and clinical social workers may be granted for one
additional year, based on extenuating circumstances determined by the
licensing department pursuant to subdivision (e). For
persons employed as psychologists, clinical social workers, or
marriage and family therapists less than full time, an extension of a
waiver of licensure may be granted for additional years proportional
to the extent of part-time employment, as long as the person is
employed without interruption in service, but in no case shall the
waiver of licensure exceed six years in the case of clinical social
workers and marriage and family therapists or five years in the case
of psychologists. However, this durational limitation upon waivers
shall not apply to active candidates for a doctoral degree in social
work, social welfare, or social science, who are enrolled at an
accredited university, college, or professional school, but these
limitations shall apply following completion of this training.
Additionally, this durational limitation upon waivers shall not apply
to active candidates for a doctoral degree in marriage and family
therapy who are enrolled at a school, college, or university,
specified in subdivision (b) of Section 4980.36 of, or subdivision
(b) of Section 4980.37 of, the Business and Professions Code, but the
limitations shall apply following completion of the training. A
waiver pursuant to this subdivision shall be granted only to the
extent necessary to qualify for licensure, except that personnel
recruited for employment from outside this state and whose experience
is sufficient to gain admission to a licensing examination shall
nevertheless have one year from the date of their employment in
California to become licensed, at which time licensure shall have
been obtained or the employment shall be terminated, provided that
the employee shall take the licensure examination at the earliest
possible date after the date of his or her employment, and if the
employee does not pass the examination at that time, he or she shall
have a second opportunity to pass the next possible examination,
subject to the one-year limit for marriage and family therapists and
clinical social workers, and subject to a two-year limit for
psychologists.
(c) A special permit shall be issued by the state
department when it finds that the staff, both professional
and nonprofessional, and the standards of care and services are
adequate and appropriate, and that the special services unit is
operated in the manner required in this chapter and by the rules and
regulations adopted hereunder.
(d) The state licensing department
shall apply the same standards to state and other governmental health
facilities that it licenses as it applies to health facilities in
private ownership, including standards specifying the level of
training and supervision of all unlicensed practitioners. Except for
psychologists, the licensing department may grant an
extension of a waiver of licensure for personnel recruited from
outside this state for one additional year, based upon extenuating
circumstances as determined by the department pursuant to subdivision
(e).
(e) The department,
or any other state department that employs a marriage and family
therapist or a clinical social worker, including a marriage and
family therapist or clinical social worker recruited from outside
this state, shall grant a request for an
(e) The licensing department shall grant a request for an
extension of a waiver based on extenuating circumstances,
pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (d), if any of the following
circumstances exist:
(1) The person requesting the extension has experienced a recent
catastrophic event which may impair the person's ability to qualify
for and pass the license examination. Those events may include, but
are not limited to, significant hardship caused by a natural
disaster, serious and prolonged illness of the person, serious and
prolonged illness or death of a child, spouse, or parent, or other
stressful circumstances.
(2) The person requesting the extension has difficulty speaking or
writing the English language, or other cultural and ethnic factors
exist which substantially impair the person's ability to qualify for
and pass the license examination.
(3) The person requesting the extension has experienced other
personal hardship which the department, in its discretion, determines
to warrant the extension.
